6 January 2024 : The Hindu Editorial Notes PDF
The Hindu Editorial
6-January-2024
1. The need to examine the examination system.
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Topic: GS2 – Social justice – Education UPSC aspirants should focus on the article as it highlights issues in India’s examination system, crucial for governance and education reforms. |
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Context: |
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Challenges in Examination System:
- Credibility Concerns: Scandals during examination seasons impact university and school board credibility.
- Influence on Education Standards: Examination system affects learning as it conditions teaching methods to cater to specific patterns.
- Focus on Memory: Known examination patterns, especially memory-based, lead to rote memorization and limit critical thinking.
- Inflation of Marks: Education administration prioritizes achieving high pass percentages and inflating marks, affecting talent search costs for employers.
Decentralized System Issues:
- Diversity in Higher Education: India has over 1,100 universities and 60 school boards, leading to diverse assessment modes.
- Secrecy and Standardization: Hallmarks of good examination boards; however, unchecked secrecy can lead to scandals, and standardization hampers experimentation.
Assessment Quality Concerns:
- Validity of Summative Examinations: Over time and across institutions, the validity of summative exams becomes questionable.
- Complaints about Memory Testing: Often, exams focus solely on memory, prompting teachers to prioritize rote learning over higher-order thinking.
- Flaws in Question Papers: Instances of language errors, conceptualization issues, and irrelevant questions undermine the quality of assessments.
- Inconsistent Evaluation: Grades often do not reflect differences in students’ learning achievements due to indiscriminate evaluation.
Improving the Examination System:
- Outcome-Based Learning Emphasis: Regulatory institutions advocate outcome-based learning, but lack of oversight hampers implementation.
- Transparency and Oversight: Transparency in teaching and assessment, along with proper oversight, are crucial for a credible examination system.
- Autonomy Challenges: Autonomous colleges lack effective oversight, leading to inconsistencies in examination systems.
Steps to Enhance Assessment Quality:
- Minimum Standards Specification: Define minimum learning outcomes and explore various ways to achieve them.
- Continuous Assessment: Allow teachers to assess students continuously, complemented by real-time oversight and student feedback.
- Technology Integration: Use technology for standardized question paper setting, evaluation, and checks and balances.
- Codification of Quality Issues: Establish codes for negligence, fraud, and academic inadequacies, linking corrective measures to these codes.
- External Audit: Conduct external audits of assessment systems, releasing reports with transparency, reliability, and consistency evaluations.
- Grading Systems Improvement: Grades should distinguish students based on academic achievements, emphasizing transparency and credibility.
Conclusion:
- A transparent, technology-enabled, and externally audited examination system, focused on minimum standards and continuous assessment, is essential for ensuring credibility, consistency, and improvement in the education system.
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PYQ: National Education Policy 2020 is in conformity with the Sustainable Development Goal-4 (2030). It intends to restructure and reorient education system in India. Critically examine the statement. (250 words/15m) (UPSC CSE (M) GS-2 2020) |
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Practice Question: Examine the challenges in India’s examination system and suggest reforms for ensuring credibility, transparency, and alignment with educational objectives. (250 words/15 m) |
2. Bringing back the faith in India’s politics.
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Topic: GS2 – Governance – Important aspects of governance- Transparency and accountability UPSC candidates must grasp the article’s insights on political trust, influential roles, and legal reforms for governance and democracy. |
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Context: |
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Challenges in Indian Politics:
- Erosion of Good Faith: Good faith in Indian politics is eroding, leading to a zero-sum antagonism that hampers public interest.
- Need for Acknowledgment: Behaviors by the government and opposition, such as impatience in Parliament and abuse of state power, must be acknowledged.
- Opposition’s Strategy: Some in the opposition, particularly civil society, pursue a strategy of refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the government, hindering effective communication.
Restoring Trust:
- Role of Influential Individuals: Individuals valuing civility and moderation can influence democratic principles by restraining their party’s excesses and focusing on substantive issues.
- Anti-Defection Law: Reevaluate the anti-defection law’s impact on inner-party democracy and consider its repeal to promote transparency and issue-based mobilization across parties.
- Media’s Role: Individuals with influence can promote responsible journalism, rebuilding trust in the media to foster a more public-interest-oriented narrative.
Lessons from Israel:
- Cross-Ideological Support: Like Israel’s protests, concerned citizens from diverse ideological backgrounds in India should unite to preserve democratic values.
- Common Ground: Despite ideological contradictions, diverse citizens can find common ground to restore trust in political institutions and uphold democratic principles.
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Practice Question: Discuss the significance of restoring political trust in India, highlighting key measures and reforms to strengthen democratic principles. (150 words/10 m) |
3. Antimicrobial resistance is a health issue that will negate advances in medicine.
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Topic: GS2 – Social Justice – Health UPSC candidates must comprehend the consequences of antibiotic misuse, its impact on global health, and the urgency for regulation. |
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Context: |
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Concerns with Prophylactic Antibiotic Use:
- Survey Findings: The ‘First Multicentric Point Prevalence Survey of Antibiotic Use’ in India reveals startling statistics on antibiotic use.
- Prevalence of Antibiotic Prescription: Over 70% of patients in tertiary-care hospitals across 15 States and two Union Territories were prescribed antibiotics.
- Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Risk: More than 50% of prescribed antibiotics have the potential to cause AMR, posing a significant health risk.
Prophylactic Antibiotic Usage Trends:
- Prophylactic Use Statistics: The survey highlights that 55% of patients were prescribed antibiotics as preventive measures, not to treat infections.
- Low Identification of Bacteria: Only 6% of patients prescribed antibiotics for infections had the drugs administered after identifying the specific bacteria.
Impact and Dangers of Antimicrobial Resistance:
- Global Health Impact: AMR, driven by misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, is a global health crisis contributing to 1.27 million deaths in 2019.
- Compromised Medical Treatments: AMR makes infections harder to treat, jeopardizes medical procedures like surgery and chemotherapy, and undermines medical advancements.
Urgent Measures Needed:
- Need for Rational Prescription: Specialists advocate for rational antibiotic prescription, emphasizing the importance of curbing misuse in medical and animal husbandry practices.
- Research and Development Crisis: There is a crisis in the antibiotic research and development pipeline, demanding urgent measures for new drug candidates and equitable access.
- Role of Government and Doctors: Effective regulation by the government and responsible prescription by doctors are crucial in combating AMR.
Conclusion:
- The Battle Against AMR: To address AMR, strict regulations on antimicrobial use, promotion of research, and equitable access to new antibiotics are imperative for the medical community and governments.
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PYQ: Can overuse and the availability of antibiotics without doctor’s prescription, the contributors to the emergence of drug-resistant diseases in India? What are the available mechanisms for monitoring and control? Critically discuss the various issues involved. (200 words/12.5m) (UPSC CSE (M) GS-3 2014) |
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Practice Question: Discuss the implications of antibiotic misuse in India, focusing on antimicrobial resistance and measures needed for effective regulation. (150 words/10 m) |
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